Moonlit Ride
by magicmumu
Summary: Pansy meets Luna for the first time. Femslash Warning: slight Pansy/Luna


Moonlit Ride

by Erin Griffin

Fandom: Harry Potter

Pairing: Luna/Pansy

Disclaimer: All characters belong to JK Rowling, Scolastic Books, and Warner Brothers.

Note: For zagury, who gave me the prompt of the story's first line. I hope you enjoy it.

She whispered her name to me by the soft branches, directly under the moonlight. She told me who she was and for the first time in my life, I was completely breathless. Growing up in the world of wizards and magical beings, it took a lot to surprise me, let alone make my breath hitch or my heart soar. Not even going to Hogwarts for the first time did anything to quicken my heart rate. But never in my twelve years of life had I ever met anyone like Luna Lovegood. Under the light of the full moon that one fatefull night, I knew I would get into trouble for what I was going to do next, but I didn't care. I needed a thrill. Hogwarts bored me and my fellow Slytherin sisters and brothers, but none of them had wanted to join me on this small quest: to sneak into the broom closet and ride around under the stars, to push a couple of boundaries and see just what we could get away with. It really was a beautiful night. The perfect night for a broomride. All day I had felt like a caged rabbit needing to be free.

Suddenly, there was something in the dark, a noise. I stilled, and then there she was, her blue eyes shining like reflectors in the night. "Though it is a beautiful night for a broom ride, don't you think you'd get in trouble being out here past curfew?" My heart pounded. Was she a Prefect, out to tell on me for breaking rules? No, she looked too young for that. I remembered then: I don't care.

"Who are you?" I asked her. She smiled, but I detected a bit of sorrow in her eyes.

"Tomorrow, I will be nobody," she said. "Tonight, I..." The girl stopped talking, and the breeze shifted her long white-blonde hair. I almost thought she might be part Veela with how she looked at me and made me feel.

"Right," I responded, my voice barely above a whisper. I turned from her then, telling myself that I hadn't the time for riddles, and with a murmured, "Alohamora," the door opened. That was really too easy. I picked the best looking broom from the closet, which was in the far back on the floor. I shook my head. How could students be so careless with these brooms? At one point, they must have cost more gold than most got for spending money in a full school year. I couldn't yet go to Hogsmeade, which was a shame. I heard there was a great joke shop there, and I could never run out of things to torture the first years with. I would love to have had a broom of my own to try out for Quidditch with, but those had to wait until the next year. Third years had all the fun, and they made sure the younger years didn't forget that.

I walked out of the shed with the broom, and the girl just stared at me, her eyes seeming to see through me at times. I mounted the broom and prepared to take off when she raised her arm to my shoulder, and I don't recall why I froze exactly. I looked at her, our eyes locking. I nodded, and she got on behind me, her arms slipping around my waist. Together we ascended, our bodies rising closer to the moon above us, and then we shot forward. I heard nothing from her, no words of caution to slow down or watch closely where we were going. At one point, I even felt her chin upon my shoulder as if to watch my hands as I manuevered the broomstick expertly. With the wind whipping my face and the warmth of this girl at my back, I felt more free than I ever could be on my own, riding an expensive broom from Knocturn Alley, or at home with my friends. I tried not to think about why, but I knew.

Suddenly, I tipped the broomstick downwards, and we made an almost virtical drop towards the lake. There was a gasp behind me and then a giggle, and I looked at the girl for a moment. When I looked back in front of me, I had to yank the broomstick up again to keep us from narrowly splashing into the lake, and then to the right to avoid the tentacle that rose up to snatch at us. I kept us between the lake and the Quidditch field, as that would keep up as far from the castle as possible, but it still covered a lot of air space. Then, I dropped us down again about 15 minutes later, and we rested under one of the trees not too far from the broom shed. The moon shone directly above us and I sat slumped against the tree, breathing in the night air. She sat beside me and without invitation or permission, she rested her head upon my shoulder and sighed in a dreamy fashion. "Who are you, really?" I asked her after a long silence. "What is your name?"

"Who I am is yet for me to know, but my name... My name is Luna," she informed me softly.

Luna. It fit her. I sighed to match hers after I regained my breath, and I looked down at her blonde hair. I was at peace. I was content. That was, until I saw two glowing eyes not far away, near one of the trees around us. Whether it was the Animagi form of Professor McGonagall or Filch's knarled cat, Mrs. Norris, was uncertain, and I didn't want to stick around to find out. "We must go in now," I told her as I stood up. I regretted taking Luna's pillow away from her, but I didn't want for her to get in trouble because of me. I walked with her inside after I put the broom back in the shed and said the spell to lock the door once more, and then I went back to my house and back to my bed.

She had been right. The next day, she had gone back to being a nobody. With my friends around, I pretended to ignore her, but my eyes always seemed to know just where to look for her. And when the moon shone bright and stayed round in the sky, I thought of the girl with its namesake, remembering her body pressed to mine, her head on my shoulder, and that silly heart of mine she took with her back to the Ravenclaw Tower.


End file.
